Spider-Man: Far From Home Almost Went with This More Humanoid Look for Molten Man

Spider-Man: Far From Home concept artist and creature designer Jerad Marantz offers a look at an unused version of classic comic book villain Molten Man, who appears in the Homecoming sequel as a hulking, gooey mass of molten lava when it attacks Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and friends in Prague. In Far From Home, supposed superhero Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) reports the molten-like creature is the most powerful of the Elementals — dimension-hopping creatures with incredible power — claiming it killed his family and destroyed his Earth. It was later revealed Molten Man and the other Elementals that attacked Europe were elaborate illusions conjured by Mysterio and his gang of ex-Stark Industries employees, who were out to capitalize on a world left vulnerable after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

“I figured out a lot on this version that I carried over onto the final,” Marantz wrote when publishing the concept art on Instagram. “This version is a bit more humanoid and powerful looking. I’m glad they went with the gooey final version.”

“I’m not sure which came first in the development process, the idea of using the comic book villains…or elemental creatures that would be subsequently assigned to those villains. Either way we trod a fine line with the connection between the two, and only explicitly called out Hydro-Man’s comic book character’s name, leaving the rest more ambiguous,” Sirrs told IndieWire. “For example, Molten-Man was at one point depicted as a gold man sporting a buzz cut and a pair of tighty-whities (although we did retain a hint of that buzz cut for nostalgic reasons).”

Marvel Studios had earlier attempted characters with fiery components in Iron Man 3, and in Far From Home, Sirrs said, “The knack was finding the right balance of a creature that had enough heat/flames/radiance to convey something capable of melting nearby objects, but also be composed of molten material that would flow, drip, etc. as it moved around.”

Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The WinterSoldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.

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